1. Field of the Invention
The field of the disclosure relates to electrical cable connectors. More particularly, the disclosure relates to a push-on coaxial cable connector with a compression type coupler and a retention and release mechanism that automatically and securely latches the connector to an equipment port when pushed-on the equipment port and remains latched until intentionally released by manipulating the mechanism.
2. Technical Background
Coaxial cable connectors, such as type F connectors, are used to attach coaxial cable to another object or appliance, e.g., a television set, DVD player, modem or other electronic communication device having a terminal adapted to engage the connector. The terminal of the appliance includes an inner conductor and a surrounding outer conductor.
Coaxial cable includes a center conductor for transmitting a signal. The center conductor is surrounded by a dielectric material, and the dielectric material is surrounded by an outer conductor; this outer conductor may be in the form of a conductive foil and/or braided sheath. The outer conductor is typically maintained at ground potential to shield the signal transmitted by the center conductor from stray noise, and to maintain a continuous desired impedance over the signal path. The outer conductor is usually surrounded by a plastic cable jacket that electrically insulates, and mechanically protects, the outer conductor. Prior to installing a coaxial connector onto an end of the coaxial cable, the end of the coaxial cable is typically prepared by stripping off the end portion of the jacket to expose the end portion of the outer conductor. Similarly, it is common to strip off a portion of the dielectric to expose the end portion of the center conductor.
Coaxial cable connectors of the type known in the trade as “F connectors” often include a tubular post designed to slide over the dielectric material, and under the outer conductor of the coaxial cable, at the prepared end of the coaxial cable. If the outer conductor of the cable includes a braided sheath, then the exposed braided sheath is usually folded back over the cable jacket. The cable jacket and folded-back outer conductor extend generally around the outside of the tubular post and are typically received in an outer body of the connector; this outer body of the connector is usually fixedly secured to the tubular post. A coupler is typically rotatably secured around the tubular post and includes an internally-threaded region for engaging external threads formed on the outer conductor of the appliance terminal.
When connecting the end of a coaxial cable to a terminal of a television set, equipment box, or other appliance, it is important to achieve a reliable electrical connection between the outer conductor of the coaxial cable and the outer conductor of the appliance terminal. Typically, this goal is achieved by ensuring the coupler of the connector is fully tightened over the connection port of the appliance. When fully tightened, the head of the tubular post of the connector directly engages the edge of the outer conductor of the appliance port, thereby making a direct electrical ground connection between the outer conductor of the appliance port and the tubular post; in turn, the tubular post is engaged with the outer conductor of the coaxial cable.
With the increased use of self-install kits provided to home owners by some CATV system operators has come a rise in customer complaints due to poor picture quality and/or poor data performance in computer/internet systems. Additionally, CATV system operators have found upstream data problems induced by entrance of unwanted RF signals into their systems. Complaints of this nature result in CATV system operators having to send a technician to address the issue. Often times it is reported by the technician that the cause of the problem is due to a loose F connector fitting, sometimes as a result of inadequate installation of the self-install kit by the home owner. An improperly installed or loose connector may result in poor signal transfer because there are discontinuities along the electrical path between the devices, resulting in ingress of undesired radio frequency (“RF”) signals where RF energy from an external source or sources may enter the connector/cable arrangement causing a signal to noise ratio problem resulting in an unacceptable picture or data performance. Many of the current state of the art F connectors rely on intimate contact between the F male connector interface and the F female connector interface. If, for some reason, the connector interfaces are allowed to pull apart from each other, such as in the case of a loose F male coupler, an interface “gap” may result. If not otherwise protected this gap can be a point of RF ingress as previously described.
As mentioned above, the coupler is rotatably secured about the head of the tubular post. The head of the tubular post usually includes an enlarged shoulder, and the coupler typically includes an inwardly-directed flange for extending over and around the shoulder of the tubular post. In order not to interfere with free rotation of the coupler, manufacturers of such F-style connectors routinely make the outer diameter of the shoulder (at the head of the tubular post) of smaller dimension than the inner diameter of the central bore of the coupler. Likewise, manufacturers routinely make the inner diameter of the inwardly-directed flange of the coupler of larger dimension than the outer diameter of the non-shoulder portion of the tubular post, again to avoid interference with rotation of the coupler relative to the tubular post. In a loose connection system, wherein the coupler of the coaxial connector is not drawn tightly to the appliance port connector, an alternate ground path may fortuitously result from contact between the coupler and the tubular post, particularly if the coupler is not centered over, and axially aligned with, the tubular post. However, this alternate ground path is not stable, and can be disrupted as a result of vibrations, movement of the appliance, movement of the cable, or the like.
Alternatively, there are some cases in which such an alternate ground path is provided by fortuitous contact between the coupler and the outer body of the coaxial connector, provided that the outer body is formed from conductive material. This alternate ground path is similarly unstable, and may be interrupted by relative movement between the appliance and the cable, or by vibrations. Moreover, this alternate ground path does not exist at all if the outer body of the coaxial connector is constructed of non-conductive material. Such unstable ground paths can give rise to intermittent failures that are costly and time-consuming to diagnose.
One method used to ensure reliable electrical and mechanical communication between the coupler and the post of the coaxial connector has been to utilize an o-ring as a means to force the coupler proximate the post by means of axially compressing the o-ring. While this method works well to address the electrical concerns noted above it can result in situations where the coupler is more difficult to rotate as compared to other type F connectors in the marketplace.
Alternatively, Male Type F connectors are available with spring fingers which form an interference fit when pushed over the outer threaded portion of a female Type F receptacle. Type F connectors comprising spring fingers may be of dubious reliability because interface retention at the junction relies upon the interference fit between the spring fingers and the threaded outer portion of the port. The amount of retention is typically a compromise between ease of insertion and retention. Typically this type of solution is found in an adaptor that does not attach directly to a coaxial cable, but, rather, adapts a cable connector interface to a push-on interface simply moving the problem of a loose coupler down the line. The push on interface itself does, however, address one basic problem; that of a loose threaded coupler at the immediate junction. By eliminating the threaded coupler issues of improper installation, intermittent connection and RF ingress are at least partially addressed albeit the challenge of connector retention remains.
Additionally, there appears to be no means in the art offered to directly attach a self-retaining yet easily disengaged push-on interface directly to a coaxial cable in the field.